The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has recommended that the 2018 general elections be held by the end of July, a private media outlet reported on Tuesday.
According to media reports, ECP officials have been pondering over July 25 or 26 (Wednesday or Thursday) as tentative dates to conduct the polls.
The commission has started working on the summary for elections date, the outlet reported, adding that the summary would then be forwarded to the president. Following the approval by the president, ECP would issue a schedule for polls.
The ECP has also set a period of four weeks between submission of nomination papers and putting of final lists of candidates besides a period of 8 days for scrutiny of nomination papers.
Earlier on Monday, the ECP had appointed district returning officers (DROs), returning officers (ROs) and assistant returning officers (AROs) for the upcoming general elections, media reports revealed.
The respective district and session judges have been appointed as DROs, except a few.
In some districts, DROs were been drawn from the administration due to non-availability of judicial officers. Likewise, most of the ROs are from the subordinate judiciary.
The ECP had also convened a meeting presided over by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza and attended by four provincial chief secretaries, additional chief secretary, Fata and the chief commissioner, Islamabad, to discuss important matters concerning the general elections.
